


The Growth of Holographic Bodies

by Pearl_Jam



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, The goal is sad, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 08:43:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6416737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl_Jam/pseuds/Pearl_Jam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a battle against an amalgam of gem shards, tragedy forces it's way into the Crystal Gem's lives. Hopefully love can fill the opened wounds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Growth of Holographic Bodies

**Author's Note:**

> Been wanting to write something sad so this is the beginning of that. I know this probably isn't the most original thing that's been posted but hopefully my own personal spin on the concept interests some of you. Comments are adored so if you have any constructive criticism or kind words, please leave them! Will try to update as soon as I can. ALSO, this is the second posting of this because the first one glitched out and wouldn't appear for some reason. If you were one of the four people to see this then, yes this is the same fic by the same person.

* * *

 

     The gem lay between the ones embedded in her palms. It felt so light and fragile when her thumb ran across it's surface.

"Please... Please come back. I know you can do it...  **Steven**..."

 

* * *

 

 

"CONNIE! CONNIE!" Steven screamed from down the beach as Connie arrived with her gym bag, sword hilt poking it's way out. She found herself turning a little red as he ran to her at full speed. Very full speed. So much speed he crashed into her and they slid along the sand.

"Garnet says you can go on a mission!" she blabbered out, quickly standing and pulling her along as she held her head. 

"W-Wha-?" she got out before he continued, squeezing her hand in his.

"Mission time! Mission time! Mission time!" He continued, Connie working out of  her daze and walking beside him, squeezing his hand in return.

"Steven, wait! What mission?! What are we even doing?" Connie tried to speak, Steven stopping mid chant and shrugging with a smile.

"Garnet said it's going to be really tough and we miiiiight have to fuse... If that's okay!"

"Uhh, sure! But... GARNET said it's going to be tough?" she asked, arching an eyebrow and Steven returning another shrug as they entered the house. 

 

The air was heavy inside with Garnet talking to a concerned Pearl and Amethyst. They all turned their attention to the kids as they entered, throwing on their smiles and relaxing their postures. Pearl's hands were clasped in front of her as she walked around to Garnet's side, Amethyst moving forward as well. Pearl hesitantly opened her mouth to speak before Garnet cut her off.

"Connie. Steven. We're going on a dangerous mission."

"Awesome!" They spoke in unison, their smiles disappearing as Garnet raised her hand in front of their faces.

"Not you two." Garnet spoke in her monotone droll. Pearl and Amethyst's expressions seemed worried more than anything, making the situation all the more odd.

"B-But you said this morning-" Steven got out.

"We've discussed it and the risk of taking you two is too high. Something about this mission is blocking my future vision and I cannot justify taking you two." Garnet finished. Pearl stepped forward to ease the blow as Amethyst scratched at the back of her head.

"Peridot has told us about a fusion experiment that has most likely hatched at one of the smaller kindergartens... It's like a smaller cluster... An amalgam." she said with a fanning of her fingers.

"Amal-GEM!" Amethyst corrected her with a snicker, Pearl rolling her eyes as Garnet moved down to her knee in front of the children.

"Listen to me. I looked at so many possible paths we can take on this mission and there is one you two need to be aware of. If we are not back within one hour, we need help." The silence was a pit of despair that filled the room. Garnet's future vision meant she was confident in each and every choice she made, small or large. Pearl and Amethyst's unease was now much easier to relate to. Connie and Steven looked to each other with their brows furrowed and turned back to Garnet as her hands grabbed both of their shoulders.

"We'll need Stevonnie." she spoke, her lips smiling a little. Steven and Connie's eyes slowly grew stars in them with a small glance towards each other. Pearl and Amethyst's faces both softened a bit as Garnet stood and crossed her arms. The group grew silent, the nervousness still hanging in the air despite Garnet's more confident demeanor. Just as Amethyst tried to break the silence, Peridot burst through the door with an aggravated groan. 

"This is impossible! One of you clods come with me right this instant! Without my limb enhancers construction on the drill is taking an estimated 32% longer than it should. I know you clods threw them away so I demand assistance! NOW!" she screamed out, Amethyst's eyes avoiding looking at the angry little pie slice in the doorway. Pearl gave an exhausted sight as Peridot's screaming session ended but before she could scold the behavior and use of the banned 'clod' title, Garnet walked over to the smaller green gem. She kneeled in front of the tiny gem, the others already feeling Garnet's demeanor shift. You could almost feel heat radiate from her large stature in times like these.

"Do not speak to any of us in that manner ever again. Do you understand me?" she calmly speaks, Peridot going stiff as she's backed against the screen door. Before she could chirp out any kind of response, Garnet cut her off.

"We're leaving on a mission to stop one of the abominations you had a hand in creating. You can politely ask Steven or Connie for help, but the drill is your responsibility. Think before you speak." she says, standing and making her way to the warp pad. The foot falls were heavy and methodic, her stoic stance staring blankly forward as she waited for the other two gems to join her. Peridot looked like she was going to poof at any moment out of pure fear. Amethyst and Pearl hesitantly joined her on the pad, Steven and Connie waving to the trio a bit haphazardly. The pad lit up and the three were gone in an instant, the room quiet until a small thump hit the wooden floor; Peridot had fallen to her butt and hugged her legs to her chest.

"Are you okay, Peridot... ?" Steven worked out, slowly walking over with Connie behind him.

"Oh me? P-Peachy... She detests me. I told her about the mini-cluster earlier today and ever since she looks at me like I built it myself..." Peridot spoke out, sighing and standing to her feet. She held out her hand toward Steven with closed eyes and a straightened back.

"Steven, could you and your human companion accompany me to the drill? Without my limb enhancers it is difficult to... reach things." she admitted, holding his hand as they left. This seemed to be done more by habit than anything. The trio of short individuals started to make their way to the barn, Steven nabbing Connies hand to complete the awkward little chain. 

"Uhh Peridot... What is the thing they are going to fight? How big is a mini-cluster?" Connie asks, Peridot glancing back at her only to huff and walk a bit slower as she explains.

"The experiments I monitored on this planet before I defected and join your group were all fusion based. Shattered gems recycled to create new soldiers and geo-weapons. The smaller experiments are all emerging currently but should mostly stay to the kindergartens. Four to five shards artificially stuck together to create mindless foot soldiers, and for the mini-cluster it's closer to...five hundred shards. The actual cluster is in the tens of thousands." she speaks plainly, looking back as the two slow down and all their hands separate. Peridot placed her hands on her hips and gave them a, "What?"

"You're surprised Garnet is mad at you?" Connie blurted out, her gaze falling to the ground as she realized that may have been overstepping her bounds.

"Connie's right... Garnet almost fell apart the first time she saw those things and now they are going to fight a giant one?"

"That's the plan, Yes. I wish all of you would stop looking at me like I made the things! I was following orders! I hate those creepy things!" she defended, rubbing the sides of her arms as she recalled getting cornered in Steven's bubble by a mob of them.

"Do you think they can handle it... ? Garnet's never asked for backup. Ever!" Steven speaks, Peridot cringing and looking off to the side. Her shoulders slowly rose and she shook her head in probably the most vague gesture of all time.

"Peridot!" he whined.

"I don't know, okay?! It's going to be a big, fat gem monster! It's the first of it's kind!" she said with a flail of her tiny arms.

Connie and Steven both stared and glanced towards one another, resigning to follow Garnet's orders and wait the hour out. Anxiety built up in their chests, both mentally crossing their fingers and hoping the gems would return soon and have completed the mission without issue. But if they didn't... That would mean they were in trouble, right? Needing Stevonnie... Was Garnet's future vision really seeing something so horrible? Connie's vision seemed to be lost in space while Steven's seemed to be drawn towards the ground. It took a quite loud "AHEM!" from Peridot to jolt them awake. The tiny gem needed help reaching in the drills control box and soon the kids were helping her tighten bolts and pretty much anything she couldn't get in to do herself. This meant Connie did most of the work and Steven passed tools. Time was moving by so slowly for them, but for the Crystal Gems it was an eternity.

 

* * *

 

"PEARL!" Garnet yelled, the scuffed up pale gem crawling out from a mound of rock and rubble.

"I-I'm okay! We've got to lure it out so we can fight it as Alexandrite!" she called from across the cave. Garnet turning her attention to the geo-beast's face. The thing had it's jaw held back by Amethyst's whip, the little quartz pulling with all her might but soon being flung into the fusion near the entrance of the cave. Garnet caught her and slid back through the dirt, setting the dizzy girl down and trying to see what their next move was. They had to form Alexandrite to win but to do that they needed space... Why wasn't the creature leaving the cave?

"Pearl is hanging on by a thread... I'm going to throw you to her so you can form Opal first..." Garnet said in a hushed tone to Amethyst, slowly reaching down and grabbing the gem's hand.

"Garnet... That thing is too fast... It just keeps morphing! One second a mouth the next it's got ten mouths... Augh..." Amethyst whined, Garnet's teeth gritting as she stared at the abomination. 

The Amalgam was hard to describe in one sentence as it's shape was fluid. It was a mass of body parts like the other forced fusions but it seemed to react to it's environment on reflex. It was now forming into a starfish like shape with pillars of flesh acting as legs that grabbed the cave floor and ceiling. Garnet saw her one chance as it grew out a new limb and chucked Amethyst like a stone towards Pearl. Using the momentum Amethyst spin rolled around the stalagmites toward's Pearls position. The beast charged towards Pearl directly, Garnet cutting it off with the most desperate punches she's ever given. Her grunts turned into screams as she pounded back at the thing's attacking limbs. She was fighting to prevent the one outcome her vision kept showing her. She couldn't let it happen.

"Come on P, Spin or something! Opal time!" Amethyst desperately said, Pearl's shaking body falling into the gem with a grunt. 

"The ceiling collapsed on me, Amethyst! Just gimmie... a second..." Pearl whined, her head still pounding. She had to keep herself together. One spin and a fall into Amethyst's waiting arms and they merged, Opal's wide stance a little shaky but still firm. The new fusion pulled her whip and spear free, combining them in a flash of bright light and soon firing a volley of light arrows into the beast's form. 

"Opal! Good!" Garnet cheered, sliding back through the rock as the beast pushed her away. The giant stump of flesh split her gauntlets apart and slammed straight into her face, sending her flying into the cave wall. Opal kept firing arrows, unable to let up for a moment as the beast shuffled through the cave and slowly made it's advance. Garnet's visor had broken, her fists slamming together as she reinvigorated herself and bull rushed the beast. Soon the fusions were surrounding the thing, Opal switching her weapon choice to two spears that chopped through the beast's flesh over and over, unable to make a lasting mark. Garnet's punches blew the thing's flesh apart in three places, her body pinned to the floor as she watched the flesh reform. Opal stabbed through the thing's limb as she slid underneath it's bulk, yanking Garnet free and getting her to her feet. Opal had to stay low to not slam her skull into the ceiling so fighting was quite awkward. She looked to Garnet and saw the uncertainty in Garnet's face, her own expression souring as the beast flexed against the floor and ceiling. 

"That... thing is going to cave in the entire kindergarten at this rate!" Opal spoke, slowly backing up with Garnet until they were against the cave wall. Garnet's expression fell to pure sorrow as Opal spoke those words, tears forming in all three of her eyes as she watched the beast close in on them. That phrase was the beginning of the end of her future vision. From this point on there were so many possibilities laid out in front of her she couldn't even consider a fraction of them. Timelines of victory and of defeat, tears and laughter... Garnet couldn't see. It was all a murky, uncertain mess that might as well have just been her imagination. The amalgam gurgled and soon formed the ability to screech. Dust kicked up all around them as it screamed louder than a thousand shattering gem warriors. Opal was shook to the core and fell apart in an instant, Pearl and Amethyst crawling to their feet and covering their ears in desperation. Garnet's teeth were grinding together as her gauntlets covered hers, the thing finishing it's scream and shuffling towards them at an alarming speed. In a flash brighter than any vision Garnet had seen before, she saw what she thought was Rose. The three opened their collective seven eyes to find a dark skinned woman protecting them from the fleshy stumps. A pink bubble surrounded them as the woman held her hands to it's surface and expanded it more and more until it popped, pushing back the creature.

"I'm early, Garnet! Don't be mad!" Stevonnie spoke, pulling her bright pink saber free and looking back at the shaken fusion. Amethyst cheered and Pearl smiled  up to Garnet who quickly snapped her visor back over her eyes. The current group of four were faced with a purely unknown future but the smile on Stevonnie's face told them all it would be okay. They always found a way.


End file.
